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28 April 2018

Jurassic World 2018: Elementosaurus Part 2

For her second post about the latest LEGO® dinosaurs, Elspeth De Montes looks at the new 2018 versions of previous moulds, comparing them to the original themes, and goes even further back in LEGO history to dabble in freakish genetic experiments...

The series of tie-in LEGO® sets released ahead of this year’s summer blockbuster Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom feature a toothsome line-up of LEGO dinosaurs.

Part 1 of our review introduced the three new full-size dinosaurs - Carnotaurus, Indoraptor and Stygimoloch - and now we will take a look at the remaining dinosaurs, as there are some interesting recolours of old friends.

LEGO Tyrannosaurus Rex

Always popular, the T-Rex returns in this years line up in 75933 T-Rex Transport which has 609 pieces and retails at US$69.99/ £59.99/ 69.99€.

There are no changes to the elements used to build the T-Rex in 75933 as compared to the previous T-Rex in 75918 T-Rex Tracker which was released in 2015. Both have upper limbs capable of grasping 3.18mm diameter objects such as minifigure utensils or a bar. As these are female T-Rex, I imagine them gossiping in the street about the cost of fresh goat!

This years model is a recolour and appears to be a ‘desert camo’ version with a Brick Yellow [TLG]/ Tan [BL] base colour and Sand Yellow [TLG]/ Dark Tan [BL], Dark Brown pattern on the legs, mixed in with some Medium Nougat [TLG]/ Medium Dark Flesh [BL] for the body, head, tail and upper limbs.

LEGO Velociraptor

There are two differently recoloured Velociraptors introduced in Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom.

The first is a Sand Green, Olive Green and Sand Yellow variant called Blue; a Velociraptor trained by Owen. Blue appears in 75928 Blue's Helicopter Pursuit which retails at £49.99/ US$39.99/ 49.99€ for 397 pieces and also comes in 75930 Indoraptor Rampage at Lockwood Estate which retails at £119.99/ US$129.99/ 129.99€ for 1019 pieces. The second version appears in 75932 Jurassic Park Velociraptor Chase, which retails at £44.99/ US$39.99/ 49.99€ for 360 pieces. The velociraptor in this set is a Medium Nougat version with a Dark Brown pattern.

As a reminder, the 2015 Jurassic World Velociraptors in 75917 Raptor Rampage were Charlie, a Sand Yellow variant with Olive Green and Brick Yellow markings, and a different version of the one called Blue which has Sand Green body and limbs with Dark Green [TLG]/ Green [BL], Earth Green [TLG]/Dark Green [BL] and Brick Yellow markings.

There was also an all-over Medium Nougat Velociraptor in another 2015 set, 75920 Raptor Escape, who appeared with an all-over Olive Green Velociraptor. The 2015 Medium Nougat variant had different coloured markings to this year’s, with a Olive Green and Sand Green pattern plus a distinctive Brick Yellow line across the nose.

Within the LEGO Juniors theme in 2015 there was an all-over Bright Yellowish Green [TLG]/Lime [BL] one with Earth Green and Dark Green markings, in 10758 Raptor Rescue Truck.

Finally, going back even further into the 2012 Dino theme reveals two final Velociraptors within two different sets: yet another Medium Nougat variant in 5887 Dino Defense HQ and Olive Green in 5884 Raptor Chase.

In total, we now have nine different colour variations of the Velociraptor, with two variants from 2018 joining five from Jurassic World sets released in 2015 and two original variants in 2012 - phew! While TLG have changed the mould design numbers, the actual elements themselves are unchanged in overall shape. The Velociraptors in the 2005 theme (confusingly called Dino 2010) were completely different elements.

Dilophosaurus

The recoloured Dilophosaurus is a nice mix of Olive Green and Earth Green legs, Sand Yellow body and tail, which both have a Earth Green and Olive Green pattern.

The Dilophosaurus shares its Sand Yellow body and upper arms with the Velociraptor as you can see when lining up this years colour variants.

The Jurassic World 2015 Dilophosaurus appeared in 75916 Dilophosaurus Ambush in the rather striking colour of Bright Yellowish Green.

LEGO Pteranodon

This year’s Pteranodon comes in 75926 Pteranodon Chase which retails at £19.99/ US$19.99/ 24.99€ for 126 parts. It is recolour of the same elements used in previous Jurassic World 2015 and Dino 2012 sets, this time appearing in Olive Green and Dark Red.

For those interested in collecting all the colour variants, there are now four in total including one from this year's Jurassic World: Fallen Kingdom, one from Jurassic World in 2015 and two from Dino 2012 sets.

Build your own Hybrid

All the dinosaurs (apart from the baby dinos of course) have Technic pin and socket joints that allow body parts to be swapped. TLG have marketed the compatibility of the dinosaurs’ body parts more directly this time, with a page on all the instruction booklets showing an image of all the new sets’ dinosaurs and then a BUILD YOUR OWN HYBRID section to entice builders to play with the joints and mix them up.

As you can see from the deconstructed Carnotaurus below, the head, upper and lower limbs and the tail are all connected via Technic pins that slot into the appropriate socket. Some of these joints (for example the lower limbs and head) have a ratcheting socket that allows degrees of stable rotation and positioning. The heads of the larger dinosaurs (for example Carnotaurus, Indoraptor and T-Rex) also have a ratcheting Technic pin to add movement on a vertical plane.

As New E reader logeybear pointed out last time, ratcheting sockets were introduced in an infamous LEGO theme from 2002 - Galidor!

This opens another area of interesting but perhaps frightening potential interconnections. Behold the wonder of Galidor mixed with Jurassic World!

Galidorus Rex

Nipalorus Rex

Ooni Raptorus

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Haha nice dinos! It's worth noting that the large-scale Knights' Kingdom II figures use a special system that combines the ratcheting system with ordinary bricks. This results in more connections but it may produce an undesired aesthetic, depending upon the scale of your model.